Today’s readings: 1 Kings 3, 5.7-12; Romans 8, 28-30; Matthew 13, 44-52.

Irrespective of whether one is a believer or not, the major challenge in life is to seek and find one’s true calling. That is something we need to be passionate about. It demands that we listen to the inner teacher and follow its leadings towards a sense of meaning and purpose. The path to achieve that is long and winding. But the treasure at the end of the road makes it worth it.

In today’s first reading we read about Solomon at one of the major turning points in his life. The name Solomon for us is synonymous with wisdom.

Solomon asks the Lord for wisdom of discernment in the management of God’s people and that was granted to him. Yet he ended up being one of the most problematic figures among the kings of Israel.

Wisdom is important in life. But what is more important is to know how to receive wisdom and remain attentive to the inner voice calling. Actually it is this attentiveness that makes one wise. Solomon qualifies himself as a king in succession, as a very young man, and as unskilled in leadership. In the face of life and life’s struggles, we all possess those same qualities which in Solomon’s view made him unfit for the purpose.

In a compelling meditation on discovering one’s path in life, author Parker Palmer in his book Let Your Life Speak writes about listening for the voice of vocation. We all carry inside searching questions, but that is not the problem. The real issue is which truths and values are really guiding us in our searching.

In today’s parable from Matthew, Jesus speaks of the kingdom of heaven as if it were the deepest desire one can have in life and for which, once found, one would be ready to sell everything. The two things the parable underlines in this search and finding are the joy of discovering the treasure and the courage to sell everything to achieve it. This is a life’s programme.

The parable speaks of the kingdom of heaven which Jesus compares to a hidden treasure. Here we need to remind ourselves that Jesus himself elsewhere in the gospel locates the kingdom of heaven as being within us. So the journey to find this treasure is an inward journey.

St Theresa of Avila, in The Interior Castle, speaks of the “mansions within”. As in many other spiritual classics, the spirituality unveiled here is one that first and foremost enlightens the path of those in search of the truth and urges for an enduring quest.

All this may imply that finding the treasure Jesus is speaking about also means becoming myself. As Palmer writes: “There is a great gulf between the way my ego wants to identify me, with its protective masks and self-serving fictions, and my true self”.

It takes time, indeed a lifetime, and hard experience to sense the difference between the two.

We all have our egos, and that is nature. But following our ego can lead us in the opposite direction of where the treasure really is. We all need to go through much dissolving and shaking of ego before we discover the treasure, the seed of authentic vocation.

The journey to the true self is not like the travel packages sold by tourist agents. It is the journey as depicted by the spiritual classics through the long tradition that crosses the board of cultures and religions. It is a transformative journey to a sacred centre, to one’s authentic calling.

Because vocation is not a goal to be achieved but a gift to be received. Discovering vocation is accepting the treasure of true self you already possess.

This can be a journey that leads through darkness even if it is carried out in the light of day. But it is a very personalised journey you can endeavour only in solitude, by yourself.